See that smile? Look at that smile. That’s not my “Oh, I’m having my picture taken” smile. That’s my “This is the worst best thing ever!” smile.

This Saturday, January 27, while I’m in the Book Garden at the Tacoma Home & Garden Show, the fine folks running Ragbrai will announce the route. I’m excited!

…Except I can’t go this year.

*huge, dramatic sigh*

In addition to the struggle of job vs bike training, my mom needs me. Longtime readers know that my father passed away in November of 2016, a little over a year ago. He died one week shy of my parents’ 50th anniversary. My mom is now alone and has been struggling with that. So we’re going to take a trip together, and it’s going to be…a thing. It’ll be a thing.

Pop quiz! What’s the one time I can go on vacation?

If you guessed the last two weeks of July? DING, DING, DING, CONGRATULATIONS! You’re a winner!

And so, I’m not going in 2018. Odds are low I’ll return in 2019 or 2020, either, because the demands of my job keep getting bigger, not smaller. Being over 40 with knee (and wrist, and neck, and back) problems I’d prefer to keep minor, I may never return for another week in the corn.

Spirit Knights 5: Boys Can’t Be Witches is officially out of revisions. Probably. I have one more day to waffle over it before sending it for copyediting. There might be a few more minor tweaks. We’ll see. Cover reveal coming soon!

This marks the second time I’ve ended a series, the first being the Maze Beset trilogy. This time is different because it’s a 5 book series, and I didn’t go into it intending to write a series. I feel…unsettled, I suppose. Like I’m putting something behind me, which is something I have no trouble doing, but at the same time, it’s hard to walk away from a collection of characters who so obviously have cool things yet to do.

Currently, I have loose plans for three more books in the same world, but none of them featuring Claire as anything more than a background character. Hopefully, she won’t elbow her way into a starring or co-starring role for these. My feeling at the moment is Claire is done being a YA character. When I come back to her in the future, she’ll be an experienced adult, and the world will be a crazy place. A crazier place.

In other news, the exciting thing today is Clockwork Dragon’s new Patreon. In case you’re not already aware, Clockwork Dragon is an author’s co-op (or coop, which also seems appropriate to me) I helped found. Four of us penmonkeys throw all our books on a table at a bunch of shows and sell them together. It’s so much easier than all four of us going it alone. Our Patreon will help us work these shows without feeling so much of a crunch to push, push, push, push the books. The lower our effective costs for any given show, the more fun we can have, the more bills we can pay, and the more time we can spend writing, which is a win for everyone, because then you get more books.

If you’re not familiar with my fellow co-op authors, I present to you Jeffrey Cook, Nikki McCormack, and Sechin Tower, who are all amazing writers. I enjoy hawking their books at least as much, if not more, than my own.

It’s December, which means it’s time to chill, prop up my feet, and relax.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Okay, for real, it means that I have a lot of work to do. Knights 5 is in revisions. Darkside Seattle: Mechanic is also in revisions. Once those are taken care of, it’s time to apply grinding things to various body parts for The Greatest Sin 6. And things just kinda keep going from there. My 2017 publication schedule was sparse, and there are good, honest reasons for that, but it’s not going to happen again in 2018.

This post, though, is about change.

For the next year, and longer if I can maintain it, I have set myself a goal to release one new short story every single month, whether I have a book release or not. Even during NaNoWriMo, even in the summer when I’m on the road every day.

It’ll be awesome, and you can watch my descent into madness in real time.

But wait! There’s a twist.

Every short story in this barrage will go on my website, this very page, for free. For one week. On the second Tuesday of every month, starting next week, December 12th, you can read it here. The story will run anywhere from 1k to 10k words, and it will fit into one of my four main world categories: Spirit Knights, Maze Beset, The Greatest Sin, or Ilauris.

(Given the nature of Darkside Seattle and the breadth of my audience, it won’t be included. Sorry.)

On the third Tuesday of every month, that story will disappear from my website forever, replaced by a link to buy it for 99 cents USD on Amazon or Kobo.

Do you want an email nudge from me when the story is free? Plus reminders about events I’m working and books I’m releasing? Look! I have a newsletter! There’s a link in the menu bar and everything! It’s amazing how this digital age stuff works. Almost like magic.

At this point, my final NaNo wordcount is looking to be around 90k. Some of those words were easy, and others were hard. I contended with two conventions and one conference, and also the first anniversary of my father’s passing. For an extra challenge, a friend with terminal cancer passed last week when I thought she still had a few more months, and I’ve had some in-house medical drama here.

If you’re a Greatest Sin fan, the medical drama was not about my health. I promise that, though I have a cold right now, I’m fine. Erik is fine too. Yes, I’m drinking plenty of fluids and taking care of myself.

Anyway, I’ll finish the current book later today, most likely, and then see if I can bang out a short story or two between then and Thursday.

If you’ve won or are about to, congrats! I hope you enjoy/ed the congratulatory video.

If you didn’t win and don’t think you will, I feel your pain. Those who’ve been following along already know my basic advice. To sum up: don’t be hard on yourself.

For those who didn’t finish the story, regardless of your wordcount, I recommend keeping on with the keeping on until you finish the story. After November, don’t neglect the rest of your life, but carve out a little time for you and your new writing habit. If 500 words per day fits into your life, then write 500 words per day.

For myself, I have to get back to a bunch of things I let fall by the wayside. On Friday, I have a mountain of tasks to tend, including some long-ignored gaming. Then I have a bunch of planning to work on for 2018.

Whatever you like from my catalog, there will be something for you in 2018. Darkside Seattle: Mechanic will be out soon. Knights 5 has a firm release date of March 27, with a cover reveal coming soon. The Greatest Sin #6 is slated for a soft release date (meaning it might slip) in late May. If all goes well, the next Ilauris book will release in October 2018, and another Darkside Seattle will follow shortly after. For all the supers fans, my next supers book has a soft release date in early July (though it doesn’t involve Bobby and the gang). I have other projects, but can’t commit to any release dates (not even soft ones) for any of them yet.

I’ll also have a bunch of short stories for ya’ll, and I’ve got some stuff in upcoming anthologies. Watch for announcements about Undercurrents, Hideous Progeny, and more! If we’re lucky, we’ll also have Clockwork Conjurations next fall.

What else is on the horizon? Clockwork Dragon, the author’s co-op I co-founded, will open up a Patreon in January. The goal of our Patreon will be to help us pay for our event tables, which will give us breathing room to cut back a little bit on the events and write even more. And that’s really what we all want–more stories. Link coming soon! I hope you’ll consider spending a few bucks to support a group of four indie authors that happens to include me.

Which is to say that November’s fun is about to give way to real life. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

I spent this past weekend at a convention in Portland, which means I didn’t write much. I’ve already validated and won, of course, but the book isn’t done yet, so I’m still working. I just emerged from the darkest part to where the heroes start winning for realsies. The home stretch. The hardest part, in some respects.

If you’re on track, that’s awesome! W00t! Keep on keeping on! Good luck keeping up your word count over the holidays, because that can be rough. Lock yourself in the bathroom for a little while if that’s the only way to escape Uncle Bob who wants to drone about politics.

If you’re not on track, you should know that many folks give up by week 3. Once you fall behind, it can be incredibly challenging to stare at that graph and feel motivation to churn out words and catch up. Especially when your story is starting to grate on you, or it isn’t coming out like you thought it would, or you have another shiny idea you want to flit to like a butterfly seeking cocaine.

Things to consider if you’re struggling:

First drafts suck, especially when you’re new to novel-length storytelling. The vast majority of us who NaNo and have become published hide our first few NaNo novels from the world because they’re awful. And when I say awful, I mean they don’t have enough redeeming value to be worth spending the time revising.

Writing itself is supposed to be pleasurable. Your brain should get a rush when it’s high on storytelling. If you never feel even a smidge of that, maybe you’re trying to tell the wrong kind of story. Storytelling is best when it comes from passion. Your passion, not someone else’s. What do you love? What are you driven to explore? What makes you feel a sense of wonder? Write about that.

If you’re fine with starting things and never finishing them, that’s okay. Not everyone is going to write books and publish them, and that’s perfectly fine. I won’t look down on you for counting all your words from three or four different works you started and never finished. Anyone who does is an asshole.

And that’s the thing. Writing is personal. It’s an individual sport, not a team effort. Publishing is a team effort, but writing is very much not. For some folks, 1667 per day, every day, just isn’t going to happen. 500 per day, 5 days a week except for vacation, is a respectable writing pace that can next you 100-130k per year. 5000 per weekend is also fine, and will get you as much as 260k per year.

If the problem is about how much planning you did or didn’t do, it’s fine to sit down and just let your fingers barf out whatever comes to mind. Grab some pictures and use them as prompts to write some flashfic or short stories. Write some fanfic. Do an enhanced outline, where you get detailed about what you want in the book, but don’t actually write narrative prose.

Have fun. If you’re not having fun, either stop or change up with you’re doing.

It’s halfway through NaNo, and I’ve got my 50. For those new to the realm of me, that’s a little slow, but ultimately fine. My goal this year is to write a specific novel which has a fluid target wordcount of 80-100k , and I don’t see a problem with finishing it at my current pace.

So far, this November, I’ve:

Removed and put away the Halloween decorations
Taken Taekwando classes with my son
Worked Jet City Comic Con
Attended a writing conference in Seattle
Handled my daughter’s major allergy attack
Handled not one, but TWO of my daughter’s major panic attacks
Shuttled my kids to doctor’s appointments that I was stupid enough to schedule in November
Had a dentist appointment that I was also stupid enough to schedule in November
Endured drama over Oddmall and Orycon
Constructed additional pylons display paraphernalia for the Clockwork Dragon show table
Failed to get a full night’s sleep for NO REASON at least 8 of the past 14 nights
Maintained about a 3,400 daily wordcount

I still have on my plate: one more kid doctor appointment, Orycon, Thanksgiving, and Christmas decorating.

If, after reading my list, you feel that maybe you’re not worthy, knock it off. I’m annoyed because I should be able to crank out 150 in November, and the most I can see for this month is maybe 100. I had plans for that extra 50. Plans, my friends. Lots of plans. We all have different targets, different plans, and different goals.

I admire the person who set a goal of 53k and is right now a little above the official target wordcount. You, whoever you are, have a firm grasp of your speed, ability, and schedule. That has probably already served you well for many moons and undoubtedly will continue to for many more.

I admire the person who put forth as much effort as they possibly could and gave NaNo an honest try before giving up. You took a plunge into the unknown, discovered it wasn’t your cuppa or didn’t fit into your life, acknowledged that, and stopped instead of beating your head against a wall. Stubbornness can be useful, but knowing your personal limits is invaluable.

Not all of us are writers, and that’s okay. Not all of us writers are NaNo-material, and that’s okay.

If you’re struggling, take a long, hard look at your pain:gain (that’s ratio of pain to gain).

Is the struggle making you stronger? Awesome. Keep going! You can do it! I believe in you!

Is the struggle stressing you out, giving you nightmares, turning your life upside down, causing arguments with people you love, harming your health, or otherwise making your life a living hell? Goodness gracious, stop. Maybe it’s things that happened/are happening this year, or maybe NaNo isn’t the right tool for you to meet your goals. I still believe in you and your ability to meet those goals. Losing NaNo doesn’t make you a failure, not even as a writer.

It’s Day 7 and you’re in one of three places: on target, below target, or over target.

If you’re on or over target, that’s awesome! Me too! High five! Keep truckin’ and you’ll ace this thing. Don’t forget to ask your fellow NaNos for help if you get stuck so you can keep going.

If you’re below target, let’s talk.

There are a zounds-load of reasons why anyone can be below target right now. Maybe you had a personal or family disaster. You might’ve underestimated the amount of time it takes you to write 1667 words. The story could be refusing to work. This writing thing is harder than you thought. OMG, the news.

And so on.

Here are some important things to think about:

Whatever you have written now, it’s that many more words than you had written on Halloween.

Winning NaNo is not that big a deal. It’s cool and all, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s about as useful as turning in your homework a day early.

Losing NaNo doesn’t mean you aren’t a “real” writer.

Wherever you’re at, you’re probably only one or two super-productive days from being on target again.

The physical and mental health of yourself and your loved ones is so much more important than writing.

Losing NaNo doesn’t mean you aren’t a “real” writer.

If your writing days are getting more productive, you’ll probably be fine, because your creative muscles are growing.

Write-ins are a really great way to meet other people in the same boat. You’re not alone.

Losing NaNo doesn’t mean you aren’t a “real” writer.

And finally, losing NaNo doesn’t mean you aren’t a “real” writer. I know a lot of professional writers, and while most of them have heard of NaNo, less than half participate. It’s not for everyone.

But don’t give up just because it’s hard! If you have a story to tell, tell that story. Maybe your life will only give you time to write 500 words per day right now. Write those 500 words. Get into the habit. If you write 500 words per day, you’ll write 15,000 words by the end of the month. You know what 15,000 words equals?